diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 03da7704..5f291fd0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ Programa is a fork of [cmux](https://github.com/manaflow-ai/cmux); for history p
 - Workspace colors are now remembered by local folder and automatically reused when that folder opens in a new workspace.
 - New setting, off by default: open a browser split beside the terminal whenever a new agent workspace is created (⌘⇧C, `programa` helper agents, and `race`). Also `automation.openBrowserWithAgentSplits` in settings.json.
 
+### Changed
+- Each ship now deletes promoted release candidates older than the two most recent, so the releases page stops accumulating 110 MB prereleases.
+
 ### Fixed
 - Release publishing accepts the previous ten-asset candidate manifests again, so the first ship after the remote daemon removal no longer fails.
 - Remote and local CLI clients now share the v2 JSON-RPC and `programa-relay-auth` contracts, password-protected sockets work through MCP, and remote bootstrap files, tmux wait signals, relay diagnostics, and downloaded daemon artifacts have bounded ownership and lifetime.
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 189f7d66..8e457454 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -238,7 +238,10 @@ build time, never committed. They publish to a single, reused `rolling` GitHub r
 the releases page stays clean (one `rolling` entry plus permanent milestone `v*` tags) and
 `releases/latest/download/*` always resolves to the newest green build. Every ship is
 therefore distinguishable in the about box and on the releases page; only minor/major bumps
-remain manual milestones.
+remain manual milestones. Each ship also promotes one sealed `rolling-candidate-<build>`
+prerelease to become that ship's permanent archive tag, then deletes older promoted
+candidates, keeping only the two newest for rollback so the releases page does not
+accumulate a growing pile of ~110 MB prereleases.
 
 Milestone marketing-version bumps (e.g. `0.15.0` → `0.16.0`) are still done manually and can
 optionally be tagged as a `vX.Y.Z` marker, which the same `release.yml` also builds on tag push:
diff --git a/scripts/publish_rolling_release.sh b/scripts/publish_rolling_release.sh
index edcf51a0..4e4b0880 100755
--- a/scripts/publish_rolling_release.sh
+++ b/scripts/publish_rolling_release.sh
@@ -147,6 +147,10 @@ build_is_at_most() {
   node -e 'process.exit(BigInt(process.argv[1]) <= BigInt(process.argv[2]) ? 0 : 1)' "$1" "$2"
 }
 
+build_is_less_than() {
+  node -e 'process.exit(BigInt(process.argv[1]) < BigInt(process.argv[2]) ? 0 : 1)' "$1" "$2"
+}
+
 require_selected_target_is_current_main() {
   local checkpoint="$1" current_main
   current_main="$("${GH_BIN}" api \
@@ -181,6 +185,41 @@ prune_candidates() {
   done < "${RELEASE_LIST}"
 }
 
+# Deletes published (non-draft) candidate archives strictly older than the
+# finalized build, keeping the newest PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES (default 2)
+# of them for rollback so the releases page stops accumulating every promoted
+# candidate forever. The finalized candidate and anything at or above its
+# build are never touched here; prune_candidates above still owns draft
+# cleanup.
+retire_promoted_candidates() {
+  local finalized_build="$1" keep_tag="$2"
+  local retained="${PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES:-2}"
+  [[ "${retained}" =~ ^[1-9][0-9]*$ ]] || \
+    fail "PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES must be a positive integer"
+
+  local tag is_draft is_prerelease is_immutable target suffix
+  local candidates_file="${TEMP_DIR}/retire-candidates.tsv"
+  : > "${candidates_file}"
+  while IFS=$'\t' read -r tag is_draft is_prerelease is_immutable target; do
+    [[ "${is_draft}" == "false" && "${tag}" == "${CANDIDATE_PREFIX}"* ]] || continue
+    [[ "${tag}" != "${keep_tag}" ]] || continue
+    [[ "${is_immutable}" == "false" ]] || continue
+    suffix="${tag#"${CANDIDATE_PREFIX}"}"
+    [[ "${suffix}" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || continue
+    suffix="$((10#${suffix}))"
+    build_is_less_than "${suffix}" "${finalized_build}" || continue
+    printf '%s\t%s\n' "${suffix}" "${tag}" >> "${candidates_file}"
+  done < "${RELEASE_LIST}"
+
+  [[ -s "${candidates_file}" ]] || return 0
+
+  local tag_to_delete
+  while IFS= read -r tag_to_delete; do
+    [[ -n "${tag_to_delete}" ]] || continue
+    "${GH_BIN}" release delete "${tag_to_delete}" --repo "${REPOSITORY}" --yes --cleanup-tag
+  done < <(LC_ALL=C sort -t $'\t' -k1,1nr "${candidates_file}" | awk -F '\t' -v retained="${retained}" 'NR > retained { print $2 }')
+}
+
 snapshot_public_high_water() {
   local snapshot_name="$1" snapshot_dir releases metadata appcast_paths
   local release_tag is_draft is_prerelease is_immutable release_target release_index release_metadata release_appcast
@@ -765,3 +804,4 @@ cmp -s "${FINAL_BODY}" "${NOTES_FILE}" || fail "rolling release notes did not co
 [[ "${FINAL_REF}" == "${SELECTED_TARGET}" ]] || fail "rolling ref did not converge"
 
 prune_candidates "${SELECTED_BUILD}" "${SELECTED_TAG}"
+retire_promoted_candidates "${SELECTED_BUILD}" "${SELECTED_TAG}"
diff --git a/tests/test_rolling_release_publication.sh b/tests/test_rolling_release_publication.sh
index cf9a4855..0009095c 100755
--- a/tests/test_rolling_release_publication.sh
+++ b/tests/test_rolling_release_publication.sh
@@ -52,7 +52,10 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # Metadata and latest status change before the rolling ref moves. Stale drafts
 # may be deleted after final verification, but the selected archive remains.
 # Rolling must already exist as the legacy mutable release; missing or immutable
-# state fails.
+# state fails. After promotion, published candidate archives strictly below the
+# finalized build are also retired, keeping only the newest
+# PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES (default 2, immutable archives excepted) so the
+# releases page does not accumulate every promoted candidate forever.
 
 ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
 CANDIDATE_HELPER="${ROOT_DIR}/scripts/publish_release_candidate.sh"
@@ -470,9 +473,15 @@ release_edit() {
   fi
 }
 release_delete() {
-  local tag="$1"
+  local tag="$1"; shift
+  local yes=false cleanup_tag=false repo=""
+  while (($#)); do case "$1" in
+    --repo) repo="$2"; shift 2 ;; --yes) yes=true; shift ;; --cleanup-tag) cleanup_tag=true; shift ;;
+    *) echo "unsupported fake gh release delete argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac; done
+  [[ -n "${repo}" && "${yes}" == true ]] || { echo "release delete missing required flags" >&2; exit 2; }
   [[ "$(cat "$(release_dir "${tag}")/immutable")" == false ]] || { echo "release is immutable" >&2; exit 1; }
-  rm -rf "$(release_dir "${tag}")"; mutation "delete-release ${tag}"
+  rm -rf "$(release_dir "${tag}")"; mutation "delete-release ${tag} cleanup-tag=${cleanup_tag}"
 }
 
 attestation_verify() {
@@ -972,6 +981,59 @@ seed_rolling 100; invoke_rolling; assert_rolling_converged 103
 assert_release_absent rolling-candidate-099; assert_release_absent rolling-candidate-100
 assert_release_absent rolling-candidate-101; assert_published_archive 103; assert_release_exists rolling-candidate-104
 
+# Promotion also retires old published (non-draft) candidate archives: only
+# the newest PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES (default 2) below the finalized
+# build survive, the finalized build and anything at or above it is never
+# touched, an immutable archive is skipped regardless of its build, and
+# deletion goes through --cleanup-tag so the tag is removed too.
+reset_state
+seed_sealed_candidate 103
+write_release rolling-candidate-050 "$(target_sha_for 50)" false false 'Candidate 50' candidate true
+write_release rolling-candidate-060 "$(target_sha_for 60)" false false 'Candidate 60' candidate true
+write_release rolling-candidate-065 "$(target_sha_for 65)" false false 'Candidate 65' candidate true
+printf 'true\n' > "$(release_dir rolling-candidate-065)/immutable"
+write_release rolling-candidate-070 "$(target_sha_for 70)" false false 'Candidate 70' candidate true
+write_release rolling-candidate-080 "$(target_sha_for 80)" false false 'Candidate 80' candidate true
+seed_rolling 100
+: > "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log"
+invoke_rolling
+assert_rolling_converged 103; assert_published_archive 103
+assert_release_absent rolling-candidate-050
+assert_release_absent rolling-candidate-060
+assert_release_exists rolling-candidate-065
+assert_release_exists rolling-candidate-070
+assert_release_exists rolling-candidate-080
+grep -Fq 'mutation delete-release rolling-candidate-050 cleanup-tag=true' "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log" || \
+  fail "retention did not delete the oldest promoted candidate with --cleanup-tag"
+grep -Fq 'mutation delete-release rolling-candidate-060 cleanup-tag=true' "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log" || \
+  fail "retention did not delete the second-oldest promoted candidate with --cleanup-tag"
+! grep -Fq 'mutation delete-release rolling-candidate-065' "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log" || \
+  fail "retention deleted an immutable promoted candidate"
+! grep -Fq 'mutation delete-release rolling-candidate-070' "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log" || \
+  fail "retention deleted a promoted candidate within the default retained window"
+! grep -Fq 'mutation delete-release rolling-candidate-080' "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log" || \
+  fail "retention deleted a promoted candidate within the default retained window"
+
+# PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES overrides the default window down to one.
+reset_state
+seed_sealed_candidate 103
+write_release rolling-candidate-050 "$(target_sha_for 50)" false false 'Candidate 50' candidate true
+write_release rolling-candidate-060 "$(target_sha_for 60)" false false 'Candidate 60' candidate true
+write_release rolling-candidate-070 "$(target_sha_for 70)" false false 'Candidate 70' candidate true
+write_release rolling-candidate-080 "$(target_sha_for 80)" false false 'Candidate 80' candidate true
+seed_rolling 100
+: > "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log"
+PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES=1 invoke_rolling
+assert_rolling_converged 103; assert_published_archive 103
+assert_release_absent rolling-candidate-050
+assert_release_absent rolling-candidate-060
+assert_release_absent rolling-candidate-070
+assert_release_exists rolling-candidate-080
+grep -Fq 'mutation delete-release rolling-candidate-070 cleanup-tag=true' "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log" || \
+  fail "PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES=1 did not delete the newly-out-of-window candidate"
+! grep -Fq 'mutation delete-release rolling-candidate-080' "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log" || \
+  fail "PROGRAMA_RETAINED_CANDIDATES=1 deleted the one retained candidate"
+
 # Lower candidates cannot regress rolling's high-water build.
 reset_state
 seed_sealed_candidate 103; seed_rolling 200; : > "${STATE_DIR}/operations.log"; invoke_rolling; assert_rolling_converged 200